Recent Articles

Happy New Year and Thank You

Kenneth Odza
January 01, 2009 18:35

Happy New Year. Thank you for your support, readership and feedback for this site. Since we launched the blog in late February of 2008, the growth in readership has been extraordinary. I'm overwhelmed at the response. My hope is that the blog has provided some measure of assistance to...

Five New Year's Resolutions

Kenneth Odza
December 31, 2008 16:15

Unfortunately, 2009 does not promise to be any easier than 2008 in protecting your business against food liability claims. Many argue that threats will only increase in the new year. Here are five things you can do to reduce exposure in the coming year: 1. Review Insurance Coverage and Limits...

The Latest On The Battle Over Federal Preemption of State Salmon Labeling Claims. . .

Kenneth Odza
December 26, 2008 17:30

  The Supreme Court signaled last fall it may review a California Supreme Court decision finding that federal law does not preempt claims for violations of state consumer protection laws concerning “selling artificially colored farmed salmon without disclosing to . . . customers the use...

Practical Advice for Litigating the Food Case

Kenneth Odza
December 17, 2008 16:24

Click here for the slides from a presentation I gave recently with Shawn Stevens entitled "Practical Advice for Litigating the Case: Retaining Experts, Assessing Damages and Planing Trial Strategy." Two threads of my part of the presentation were organization and relationships (I...

Is It A Really Food-Borne Illness?

Kenneth Odza
December 16, 2008 17:16

At a recent presentation, Dr. Alan Melnick, a public health officer in both Oregon and Washington, provided a useful list of alternative causes of symptoms to consider when someone claims a food-borne illness. Other causes of symptoms that might be confused for food-borne illness include (but may...

Crisis Management So Simple Even A Pre-Schooler Could Do It. . .

Kenneth Odza
December 12, 2008 16:45

Last week’s ACI conference included a great session on crisis management. David Hermann from the GMA gave a presentation on “Effective Crisis Leadership: 5 Basic Rules You Learned as a Kid.” His presentation reflected a proactive approach and showed ways to build an effective...

2009 Priorities for USDA in Food Safety

Kenneth Odza
December 11, 2008 16:30

I just returned from ACI’s Second National Forum on Food-Borne Illness, which included several interesting presentations and discussions. One was by Dan Engeljohn, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Policy and Program Development at the Food Safety and Inspection Service...

Dramatic Shift in Plaintiffs' Burden of Proof for Food-Borne Illness Claims?

Kenneth Odza
December 04, 2008 21:27

A California Court of Appeal panel recently issued a lengthy decision in Sarti v. Salt Creek Ltd. (2008 WL 5006537)  reversing a trial court’s grant of judgment notwithstanding the verdict  (JNOV) in a food-borne illness case involving campylobacter. Sarti is alarming. The...

The Billable Hour - Reflections on the CLE

Kenneth Odza
November 26, 2008 16:18

I had the privilege of participating as a speaker at the Billable Hour CLE held recently at Seattle University School of Law. As an “outside” counsel, here were some of the most significant things I learned: 1. Clients may find the billable-hour system “frustrating.” Though...

More on Melamine . . .

Kenneth Odza
November 21, 2008 16:16

I was interviewed recently by Food Innovation Weekly on “Melamine, Recalls and Crisis Management.” This question-and-answer article discusses how the waves of melamine issues circling the globe affect the way a company should think about crisis management. I suspect that we’re not...